South Korea Ranks 5th Globally in Smartphone Addiction... 1st Place is China

Smartphone Addiction Spreads Worldwide... Germany Has the Lowest Addiction Rate

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[Asia Economy Senior Reporter Jinsoo Lee] China has been identified as the country with the most severe smartphone addiction in the world.

A research team from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, published the results of a survey on smartphone usage patterns of 34,000 residents from 24 countries between 2014 and 2020 in the April issue of the monthly academic journal specializing in human-computer interaction and cyber psychology, Computers in Human Behavior.

According to the findings, the countries with the most severe smartphone addiction were China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brazil, and Korea, in that order. Japan ranked 15th, the United Kingdom 16th, and the United States 17th. Germany was found to have the relatively lowest level of addiction.

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis (a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple individual studies) related to smartphone addiction among young people. The age range of the survey participants was 15 to 35 years, with an average age of 28.8. Among them, 60% were female.

The research team reviewed 81 previously published research papers on young people's smartphone usage patterns based on the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS). The SAS is the most widely used scale to measure smartphone addiction, investigating whether smartphone use interferes with daily life, loss of self-control, withdrawal symptoms, and so on.

The researchers assigned smartphone addiction scores (ranging from 10 to 60) by country. As a result, China ranked first with a score of 36. Canada was ranked 7th with a score of 31.11, far ahead of its neighbor the United States, which scored 26.68 and ranked 18th.

The survey results showed that smartphone addiction spread worldwide from 2014 to 2020. This trend is expected to continue. The researchers anticipate that this will have psychological impacts in the future.